Kiss Me I’m Irish!
I used to hate St. Patrick's Day growing up. I attended a Catholic school and we had a ton of Irish or part Irish kids and they gave me such grief every year. One year one of my nuns told us that there were two kinds of people. There were the ones who are Irish and the ones who wished they were. So there I was, the only curly-haired, brown skin chubby girl who looked and acted nothing like all of her classmates. Even those who weren't Irish looked at me like they were better on that special day. Every year I'd remind my mom that I had to have something green to wear or I'd get pinched. With eight kids you can imagine how many times she remembered to wash or find something. So the obvious was a hair ribbon or some sort of jewelry or green ruffles on [...]
No Winter Lasts Forever
I came into this whole gardening thing kicking and screaming. I moved from Hawaii, the land of flamboyant and wildly amazing tropical flowers. We thought we had closed on a house in January and we moved in on March 8, 2017. By May it was obvious what we had purchased was a yard full of weeds with a house thrown in for free. We had inherited a back yard of weeds, a garage that had seen better days, and mud where a path would later become a walk way to the back porch. When we looked for a house we never thought about what was outside. It was discouraging to see weeds and nothing remotely beautiful to my untrained eye. That summer we pulled ditch lilies. every side of a building had those disgusting orange flowers that I hated on sight. And we pulled what I learned was burdock. We [...]
Moving Is Hard
In retrospect, moving from sunny Hawaii to gloomy Wisconsin in March probably was not the best choice. But we’d quit our jobs, given notice on our gorgeous duplex, and sad goodbye to the best landlord ever. The loan was approved and it was time to start the new life I never wanted. After a final concert with the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble and a teary aloha, we flew to Houston and enjoyed spending time with family and friends before boarding our fight to Milwaukee. We decided to book two nights at a hotel because I did not know when our belongings would arrive. I was so tired of spending money that we opted for the cheapest hotel available. How bad could it be? So much worse than you want to know. It was freezing in that room and I got yelled at for asking for a second blanket. The room [...]
Leis of Aloha
I am going to be the keynote speaker at a big conference here in Oshkosh were we now live. For some reason when I got the invitation I flashed on what I would wear to [...]
My Dog Thinks I’m Perfect
We need spring to come! It's been a long haul, and there are days when I'm tired of myself and my attitude. I've grumbled too much about the ice, I've dreamed too much of going [...]